The Bisons used four runs in the eighth inning to come from behind and beat the Campbell Fighting Camels in the first game of a doubleheader Friday afternoon at Ken Dugan Field at Stephen Lee Marsh Stadium.

The Bisons sent their ace, junior lefty Rex Brothers, to the mound for his final home start of the season. Brothers struggled with his control before being lifted for freshman Josh Cotham who picked up his first career win in Lipscomb’s 8-6 win.

Brothers tossed seven innings striking out nine. He threw four wild pitches, had a balk, and committed a throwing error on a pickoff attempt.

The win secured the Bisons a berth in the 2009 Atlantic Sun Tournament.

The Bisons struck first in the bottom of the second inning with freshman Tennyson Dodd driving in senior Justin Sanders on a groundout to second base.

However, Campbell came fighting right back in the third inning with two runs of their own. The Fighting Camels left fielder Chris Bangi led off the inning with a single and advanced to second on Brothers’s pickoff attempt error. Bangi stole third and then scored on a balk. Campbell’s right fielder Ryan Hamme singled to right field and then advanced to second and third on two wild pitches. First baseman Brian Gana batted Hamme in on a single to third base.

The Bisons freshman right fielder Antonio Butler helped Lipscomb tie the game at two in the bottom of the third by leading off the inning with a single through the left side of the infield. He later scored on a sacrifice fly ball hit by junior Tyler Wilson.

The two teams were not even for long, Campbell re-took the lead on a fourth inning unearned run by shortstop Kevin Nelson. Nelson reached first base on a fielder’s choice. He then advanced to second on a wild pitch. He stole third, and then was able to score on another wild pitch thrown by Brothers.

The score would remain 3-2 in favor of the Fighting Camels until the seventh inning. Campbell added two runs in the top of the seventh to increase their lead to 5-2. However, the Bisons would get two runs in the seventh inning to draw within one run. Senior Allen Bolden and Dodd were both batted in on a Butler single to the right field gap.

Campbell extended their lead to 6-4 in the eighth inning with a run by Bangi batted in off of a Hamme double.

The Bisons entered the bottom of the eighth inning having trailed the Fighting Camels for four-and-half innings, but Lipscomb used the bottom of the eighth to rally back. Lipscomb opened the inning with three consecutive hits. Wilson and Sanders both singled and senior shortstop Branden Cadavid doubled fueling the four run inning for the Bisons.

The eighth inning rally included five Lipscomb hits and a Campbell error.

Lipscomb senior closer Kyle Tognazzini pitched the ninth inning for his eighth save of the season.

Cotham improved to 1-1 on the year, while Campbell’s reliever Daniel Gardo fell to 1-4.

The Bisons improved to 20-28, 14-11 in the A-Sun, while the Fighting Camels fell to 24-20, 6-15 in the A-Sun.

Article by Benjamin Seamon of the Lipscomb Athletic Office of Media Relations